Something About Noses......

It has been an education to read the comments on so many frag's by so many individuals. I wondered how the same juice could possibly be so different to so many people. Well, I have, of course, learned that one's personal chemistry has a lot to do with it. However, I would like to submit another thought.
A friend of mine is deeply into aromatherapy. In talking with her, I came to believe that in addition to our chemistry, our EXPERIENCES in life have a dramatic affect on whether we like or dislike certain scents. Just as a song or color recalls soothing or traumatic events in our history, so can scents.
It would be great to hear your thoughts on this.

Re: Something About Noses......

First of all, Welcome to Basenotes!

One of our members, Pepe Le Pew, is very knowledgeable about the association between scents and memories. Hopefully, he will see this thread and contribute to it!

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, ...... I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost

Re: Something About Noses......

I'm consistently surprised by the amount of professional perfumers who claim that there is no such thing as a scent changing due to skin chemistry. I notice this over and over. Amber smells completely different on my girlfriend compared to me (after an hour or so of wearing it, of course).

I think experiences also have a lot to do with the subconscious reaction to scents, not so much "how they smell" exactly. It's more of an emotional element.

Re: Something About Noses......

Originally Posted by Maxwell

I'm consistently surprised by the amount of professional perfumers who claim that there is no such thing as a scent changing due to skin chemistry. I notice this over and over. Amber smells completely different on my girlfriend compared to me (after an hour or so of wearing it, of course).

I think experiences also have a lot to do with the subconscious reaction to scents, not so much "how they smell" exactly. It's more of an emotional element.

I don't understand how anyone would be able to make that claim. Maybe perfumers without a chemistry background, just maybe, but experience should reveal the fallacy in that. The involvement of thermodynamics in terms of body heat and different molecular weights (and the non-homogeneity from each spray) of the perfume constituents should generate a difference if not only a subtle one. [edit] On a second read, I guess it depends on what one defines as "scent changing" - I think I might have responded to the wrong statement. Anyway...